M&S store closure costs result in 62% annual profit plunge

Profit before tax at Marks and Spencer (M&S) plummeted 62.1 per cent to £66.8 million last year from £176.4 million the year before, the company's full year results show.

At M&S's clothing business, which has failed to keep up with trends for many years, revenue fell 1.4% to £3.74bn.

That compared with profit after taxation of 117.1 million pounds a year earlier.

"This latest wave of closures will feel like a body blow to locations that are already under pressure" says the BBC's Emma Simpson, "but the hard truth is that M&S has more stores than it needs, given our changing shopping habits" and many experts believe that closing a large swathe of stores "is a tough but necessary step".

He said: "At our half-year results in November I outlined the need for accelerated change at M&S".

They added: "Other key areas of focus are likely to be the performance of the new Robinson's range extension, an update on the progress of the U.S. multi-pack Fruit Shoot penetration, the implications for H2 margins (if any) in light of recent moves in input costs, namely PET, aluminium and sugar and finally its view of the consolidation in the United Kingdom grocery retail market".

Currently, around 18 percent of M&S' clothing and home sales are made online.

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